Thursday, September 7, 2017

In order to best achieve world language k-5 education goals, our group has decided to take a next step and become an officially registered non-profit organization! Below is a picture of our team members:

If you would like to become part of our group and organization, please contact Elizabeth Williamson (Director) or Geraldine Govaerts (Coordinator) at worldlanguageinitiativemt@gmail.com.

In 2014, a bipartisan group of members of Congress asked the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to undertake a new study of the nation’s language education needs. Four members of theUnited States Senate—Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin), Mark Kirk (R-Illinois), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii)—and four members of theHouse of Representatives—Rush Holt (D-New Jersey), Leonard Lance (R-New Jersey), David Price (D-North Carolina), and Don Young (R-Alaska)—signed two letters requesting that the Academy provide answers to the following questions:

How does language learning influence economic growth, cultural diplomacy, the productivity of future generations, and the fulfillment of all Americans? What actions should the nation take to ensure excellence in all languages as well as international education and research, including how we may more effectively use current resources to advance language attainment?

In a Florida study, kids who knew two languages scored an average of 23 to 34 points higher on both math and language arts standardized tests than kids who only spoke one language.

Babies raised in bilingual homes demonstrated superior cognitive ability—specifically the ability to seek new stimuli more quickly—as early as seven months old. (And according to the National Academy of Sciences, that’s an early indicator of a high IQ.)

Fifty-four percent of preschool-age bilingual children are able to easily distinguish the meanings of words. (Most children aren’t able to do this until elementary school.)

People who know more than one language are able to pay attention for 20% longer on average than their one-language-speaking friends. (Now that certainly would come in handy during a long class period, wouldn’t it?)

Bilingual people have 0.05 cubic millimeters of gray matter in the parietal regions of their brains. (In plain English, people who speak more than one language have more dense gray matter in their brains, making them smarter.)

Tuesday, January 31, 2017

World Language Before and After-school Classes start this week at all 8 Bozeman Elementary Schools. Classes in Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Russian, Sign Language and Spanish are being offered! We hope everyone enjoys language learning this Spring Session!

Thank you Bozeman School District, World Language Coaches, WL PAC Coordinators, kidsLINK Coordinators and Principals at each school, MSU Language Assistants, BHS AP Language and English Language Learner Assistants! This program is possible because of our partnership and the parents of our k-5 students!